Philippe Halsman, Portrait of Alfred Hitchcock for the promotion of the film The Birds. 1962. Digital print on 10" x 7.5" glossy photo paper from the Magnum Photos archive. Philippe Halsman © Magnum Photos in lower right corner. Fine condition (with small imperfections). In 1962 Philippe Halsman took many photos for the promotion on the occasion of the film "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock. Apart from the sessions, the ideas culminate, he infinitely multiplies other images parallel to the feature film, such as this one in which he stages the director, with a long cigar, a bird on the end, a bird's leg tied to a wire to prevent that it takes off, Halsman uses humor and artifice, a painted canvas with a wink and a goosebumps atmosphere. The Birds is a 1963 American natural horror-thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, released by Universal Pictures. Loosely based on the 1952 short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, it focuses on a series of sudden and unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California, over the course of a few days. The film stars Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren in her screen debut, alongside Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, and Veronica Cartwright. The screenplay is by Evan Hunter, who was told by Hitchcock to develop new characters and a more elaborate plot while keeping du Maurier's title and concept of unexplained bird attacks. One of the most influential photographers of the 20th century along with other of his time such as: Man Ray, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Horst P. Horst, Diane Arbus, Helmut Newton, Robert Doisneau, Josef Sudek, Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Andreas Gursky, among many others.